text: Back in 1970 as an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer I traveled throughout Southeast Asia, hitchhiking where possible - Malaysia yes, Thailand no - and sleeping on the deck of a Thai boat making its way down the coast to  Malaysia - stopping at an island that easily could double for the one in  The Beach. Reading the book was thus eerie: in those days Vietnam was very  real, not a movie; and Southeast Asia wasn't a tourist destination other  than GIs on r and r. Interesting book. The interest in Vietnam - or movies  about Vietnam - by the central character shows that it hasn't been  forgotten. And the view of Southeast Asia in the book is at odds with my  memory of it - mysterious, beautiful, confounding. I guess that's why the  backpackers went looking for that pristine island. Again, an interesting  book that got me to thinking about a very interesting - and different -  time.